Collaboration between public health and computer science shows much promise. The history of the two disciplines is discussed. Examples of recent efforts at collaboration are described to give a flavor of where this path may be going. These studies ranged from some showing effectiveness to others demonstrating the infancy of the collaboration at this point in time. Technology and computer science offer public health many new technological advances by making further use of the internet, enhancements in public health informatics, using computer science to accomplish clinical work gathered by physicians to name a few examples. Still other computer science research concentrations such as animation and virtual reality deserve further exploration. Pursuing this path is certainly worth taking to further advance knowledge and the mission of public health primarily through collaborative efforts taken by individuals/teams in the two disciplines. A collaboration with computer science will help bring public health to meet the 21st century both in terms of challenges and technology.

Fairfield,A.L., Rosner, D., Colgrave, J., Bayer, R. and Fried, L.P., “The exodus of public health what the history can tell us about the future,” American Journal of Public Health,100(1). 54–63. Jan. 2010.
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